The Business Journal honored 14 building projects last Thursday at its seventh annual Top Real Estate Projects Awards reception. The event allowed us to pause for a moment during this busy time of year to consider the accomplishments of the organizations, architects, designers, builders and others behind these significant projects.

SANTA ROSA — When Luther Burbank Savings approached Santa Rosa’s TLCD Architecture to design a new flagship branch in downtown Santa Rosa, the lender said it wanted more than simply a beautiful building.

“They said they wanted something artistic at one of the main entry points for the city. We, as architects, get really excited when we hear something like that,” said Don Tomasi, senior principal at TLCD.

ROHNERT PARK — While early plans for the magnificent and unrivaled Donald and Maureen Green Music Center on the campus of Sonoma State University date back to 1996, construction activities did not begin in earnest until March 1, 2006. The center officially opened this year on Sept. 29.

SANTA ROSA — The Howard residence in the Mayacama Timbers Resort community in the Shiloh Hills is a magnificent single-family home built on a two-acre lot that has been sited to maximize valley vistas of Windsor and Santa Rosa.

NAPA — Throughout a still-teetering economy that saw tourism business plummet across the country, The Meritage Resort and Spa’s planned expansion was the first major construction project in the hospitality sector to take hold following much angst in the industry.

UKIAH — Designed to deliver much more than library services, the Mendocino College Library Learning Center, completed this fall, is a new central pivot point for a campus that had long outgrown the cluster of portable buildings that have sat at the site since the permanent campus was established in 1985.

KENWOOD — After eight years of planning, Vittorio Belmonte’s vision to recreate a little bit of Italy in Kenwood, complete with a VJB barrel cellar, tasting room and village marketplace surrounding a piazza, was realized in a grand opening on July 20.

OAKVILLE — In an effort to highlight the past and preserve historical features of a popular landmark that first opened for business as a general store in 1881, the Oakville Grocery was completely renovated between January and May 2012 to upgrade the building’s infrastructure and to create a fresh interior look for this premier gourmet destination.

HEALDSBURG — E&J Gallo, one of the world’s largest wine companies, wanted to tear down the historic yet inhabitable and graffiti-harried Olivet Winery to construct 15,000 square feet of offices for support employees connected to Gallo’s winery in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek Valley, yet the Madera-based company ultimately opted for a substantial reconstruction to preserve the bricks and beams of the 109-year-old building.

PETALUMA — Novato-based genetic research components maker Biosearch Technologies Inc. needed to double the size of its headquarters and labs to accommodate growth over the next decade, and they found the perfect fit in a mostly vacant 120,000-square-foot former high-tech manufacturing plant in south Petaluma that could be retrofitted quickly and relatively inexpensively.

GUERNEVILLE — An effort to bring long-term affordable and assisted housing to western Sonoma County came to a close in March, as Luther Burbank Housing and its development partners cut the ribbon on the 48-unit Fife Creek Commons project in Guerneville.